Riza Durmisi (, al, Riza Durmishi; born 8 January 1994) is a Danish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Spanish club

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, on loan from the Italian club

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. He has represented Denmark at several youth levels and made his debut for the senior national team in 2015.

Early life

Durmisi was born in

Ishøj Ishøj is a Danish town with a population of 20,017 (1 January 2015).Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

suburbs and started playing football for local club SB 50 Ishøj before moving to the

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

youth academy. Durmisi is of Albanian heritage from

Tetovo Tetovo ( mk, Тетово, , sq, Tetovë/Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, w ...

, in the former Yugoslavia.

Club career

Brøndby

2012–13 season

Durmisi made his Brøndby debut in a 1–1 home draw against

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

on 26 August 2012. He made four total substitute appearances during the season.

2013–14 season

On 24 June 2013, Durmisi signed a three-year contract tying him to the club until summer 2016. Durmisi was promoted to the first team and issued shirt number 17. He became a frequent starter, first as a left winger and later as a left wing-back. On 10 November, he scored his first goal from his position as left wing-back in the 3–0 home victory against AGF. He attracted the attention from foreign scouts, including French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and Turkish giants Fenerbahçe, after scoring 3 goals in 33 matches that season.

2014–15 season

On 31 July 2014, Durmisi made his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

debut, starting in the 3–0 away defeat against Belgian side

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. Durmisi revealed during the 2014–15 Christmas break that he was approached by the

Football Federation of Macedonia The Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM; mk, Фудбалска Федерација на Македонија, ФФМ; sq, Federata e Futbollit të Maqedonisë) or Football Federation of North Macedonia is the governing body of football in No ...

to represent Macedonia internationally, due to his Macedonian roots. However, he said at the same time that representing

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

was his first priority, should its then-head coach,

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

, offer him a call-up. In response, Olsen said Durmisi should focus on proving his worth on the pitch rather than in the press, yet nonetheless acknowledged Durmisi was being considered for a call-up. During the winter break in January, Durmisi revealed his ambition was to move to either the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

or the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

2015–16 season

On 2 October 2015, after months of negotiations and after replacing his agent Sedat Duraki, Durmisi signed a contract extension which tied him to the club until the summer 2018. The contract reportedly included a €2 million buyout clause, and was finalized by Durmisi's new agent, Nikalo Jurić. At the end of 2015, Durmisi rewarded for his impressive performance and a great year by winning the 2015 Brøndby IF Player of the Year award ahead of such players as

Daniel Agger Daniel Munthe Agger (; born 12 December 1984) is a Danish professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Danish 1st Division club HB Køge. As an active player, he played as a central defender for Brøndby and Liverpool a ...

and

Thomas Kahlenberg Thomas Zeuthen Kahlenberg (; born 20 March 1983) is a Danish former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He started his career with Brøndby IF, winning two Danish Superliga championship, and played four seasons at French club A ...

. By the end of March, Durmisi revealed he was receiving significant attention from clubs all across Europe, also stating his expectation that the 2015–16 would be his last for Brøndby. He also added his overall objective is to eventually play for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

Real Betis

2016–17 season

On 28 May 2016, Durmisi signed a five-year contract with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

after weeks of media rumours. Betis activated Durmisi's €2 million buyout clause with Brøndby, then replaced it with a €20 million buyout clause on a contract tying Durmisi to Betis until summer 2021. He made his debut for the club on 20 August, starting in a 2–6 away loss against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

2017–18 season

On 30 April 2018, he scored a goal for Betis as they secured

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualification for the 2018-19 season following a 2-1

win over Malaga.

Lazio

2018–19 season

On 22 June 2018, Durmisi signed a five-year contract with

. His debut came on 25 August in the 2–0 away loss to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. After struggling in his first season for ''I Biancocelesti'' partly due to injuries, he was benched.

Loan to Nice

On 6 December 2019, French club

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

announced that they reached an agreement with Lazio to loan Durmisi from January 2020 until the end of the 2019–20 season. After his debut on 5 January 2020 in a 2–0 win over Fréjus Saint-Raphaël in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

, Durmisi managed only to make five league appearances for the rest of the season, before returning to Lazio.

Loan to Salernitana

On 22 January 2021, he was loaned to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

. He ended his six-month loan with only five appearances, all as a substitute. He returned to Lazio ahead of the 2021–22 season, where he was not called up by new coach

Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri (; born 10 January 1959) is an Italian professional football manager who is the current manager of club Lazio. Sarri did not play football professionally, taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a banker. ...

for the second phase of the January training camp and consequently remained on the fringes of the squad.

Loan to Sparta Rotterdam

On 31 January 2022, Durmisi joined Dutch

club

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

on loan until the end of the season.

Loans to Leganés and Tenerife

On 1 September 2022, Durmisi moved to

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

in Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

on a season-long loan. On 30 January 2023, Durmisi moved to a new loan to

, also in the

International career

On 8 June 2015, Durmisi made his senior international debut for

in a 2–1 home friendly win against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

at the

Viborg Stadion Energi Viborg Arena (originally Viborg Stadion) is a football stadium located in Viborg, Denmark. It is the home ground of Viborg FF and has a capacity of 9,566. The stadium is part of Viborg Stadion Center and is owned by Viborg Municipality. It ...

, as a 72nd-minute substitute for

Simon Poulsen Simon Busk Poulsen (born 7 October 1984) is a Danish retired professional footballer who played as a left-back. He has played 31 games for the Denmark national team. Following his retirement from professional football, Poulsen moved to coachin ...

. Durmisi played the final seven matches in Morten Olsen's lengthy tenure as national team head coach. In the Euro qualifiers game against Albania in 2015, Durmisi revealed that he would have liked to have played for Albania, being of Albanian heritage from Tetovo. He revealed that he never got a call up from

FSHF The Albanian Football Association ( sq, Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) is the governing body of football in Albania. The association is based in Tirana, Albania. It organises the national football leagues of the Albanian Superliga, the Fir ...

and that even the

had sent him an invitation, in which he refused. On 1 March 2016, after

Åge Hareide Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian football manager and player, currently managing Malmö FF as the interim manager. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich ...

replaced Olsen, Hareide called-up Durmisi for his first two matches in charge, against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 24 and 29 March respectively. He started and played the full 90 minutes in both matches as a left wing-back in Hareide's 3–5–2 formation. In May 2018 he was named in Denmark’s preliminary 35-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. However, he did not make the final 23.

Career statistics

Honours

;Lazio *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2018–19 ;Individual *

Player of the Year 2015

References

External links

Riza Durmisi
DBU-statistics * {{DEFAULTSORT:Durmisi, Riza 1994 births People from Ishøj Municipality Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark Living people Association football fullbacks Danish men's footballers Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers Ishøj IF players Brøndby IF players Real Betis players S.S. Lazio players OGC Nice players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players Sparta Rotterdam players CD Leganés players CD Tenerife players Danish Superliga players La Liga players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Serie B players Eredivisie players Segunda División players Danish people of Albanian descent Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in France Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands